


The Sun

by celeste9



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Gen, Hope, Mentors, Pre-Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Vignette
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-24
Updated: 2018-03-24
Packaged: 2019-04-07 13:45:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,280
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14082252
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/celeste9/pseuds/celeste9
Summary: Poe has a conversation with Leia the night before he leaves for Jakku.





	The Sun

**Author's Note:**

> For Poe Dameron Appreciation Week Day 7: As Long As There's Light

Poe sat with his knees folded up, arms wrapped around them, beneath the night sky of D’Qar. It reminded him of home somehow, the thick, warm air, the sounds of the jungle. It was weirdly comforting. Even the stone he sat on felt familiar, like the ruins he used to play in.

He had a good sightline from where he sat to the base, so he could see General Organa approach long before he heard the sound of her footsteps. She sat right on the dirty stone beside him without ceremony.

“Your droid gave you up,” she said.

“Of course he did.”

“He expressed concern you were unhappy.”

“I just wanted a bit of quiet, honestly. Not that I mind you being here, of course, General.”

“Of course,” Leia said, with not a small bit of wryness. “Anything on your mind?”

“Oh, you know.” Poe shrugged. “First Order, recovery mission, trying to stay alive. Same old, same old.”

“I certainly hope you’re planning on staying alive. Your father will personally murder me otherwise.”

Poe laughed softly. “As I’ll be seeing him soon, I’ll tell him to go easy on you. Though I’ll be honest, he isn’t too keen on this whole spy trip you’ve got me on.”

“Won’t be much longer,” Leia promised, though there was something odd about the set of her face as she said it. Worry, was all, Poe supposed. “Then you can go back to your routine space battles.”

“Much safer. He’ll be pleased.” Poe felt the outline of his mother’s ring through his shirt, fingering it for a moment. “So, when I get this map. What then?”

“Hopefully it tells us where to go.”

“And then?”

Leia tilted her head to meet his eyes. “I can’t tell if you’re pushing me or if you just really want me to say I’ll send you to my brother.”

“Sorry, I don’t mean to pry. Well, maybe a little.”

“Your honesty is a fine quality, you know, though an indication it’s past time for you to be done with intelligence and undercover work.”

“I’m not gonna argue with you.” Poe shifted, letting his knees splay open and dropping his hands into his lap. “But will you send me to him? If we really do find him?”

Leia’s gaze was careful and considering before it slid away from him. “I’d prefer us not to get ahead of ourselves.”

That wasn’t an answer at all. Poe hated the way it made him feel like Leia didn’t trust him enough. Trusted him to retrieve the map, sure, but not to actually bring her brother home.

Then again, maybe she wanted to do it herself.

“Humor me, General,” Poe said. “Let’s say it all goes the way we want it to. What are you hoping to achieve? You think your brother will come out of hiding because we ask him to?”

As soon as Poe said it, he thought, maybe it really should be Leia. Who would say no to her? Poe certainly hadn’t.

“What do you think, Poe?”

Poe blinked. “Huh?”

Leia watched him calmly. “What do you think will happen?”

“If you don’t mind me saying, I don’t even know why he’s missing in the first place. Do you?”

Ah, shit.

Leia looked from Poe to the stars, so bright and clear in the sky. “That isn’t really your concern or your business, is it?”

“No, General,” Poe said, chastised. “I’m sorry.”

He thought about what Lor San Tekka had said, that not everything was about lightsabers and Jedi. Luke was important but he wasn’t everything – Poe believed that.

But he also believed in the power of a symbol, and hope. Luke would be a hell of a symbol.

It wasn’t his place, but Poe could never stop himself from pushing. It exasperated Leia, he knew, but he also knew that she hadn’t wanted him here in the Resistance for his restraint. “You haven’t seen your brother for years,” he said, “but you still believe he will answer when you call.”

Leia was silent for long moments and Poe thought maybe he had gone too far. Then she said, “You were right before. I don’t know exactly why he left; I have only my suspicions. I won’t deny that I’ve cursed him a few times. More than a few.” The line of her mouth was soft and amused, though there was still sorrow in her eyes she couldn’t mask. “We can’t let the First Order find him before we do; they will kill him. But yes. Even so, I think he will come when I need him. He always has.”

Poe had grown up on the stories, Luke and Leia and Han. He knew them almost as well as he knew his own history. He knew of Luke the Jedi, Luke the pilot, Luke the hero, and he believed that Luke Skywalker was as good a man as they made them.

But he also knew that Luke must have some reason that drove him to run, to hide, to stay away even as Leia fought a war most of the galaxy refused to believe was happening. Whatever it was, he had to believe it was right, it was for the best.

Poe generally felt he was an optimist; his friends certainly teased him enough about it. He didn’t understand the point of believing the worst would happen. Why set yourself up for failure like that?

But he couldn’t be as sure as Leia was that Luke Skywalker would come when they asked.

“You don’t believe me,” Leia said. There was no accusation in it, only acceptance.

“Sorry, General. I want to. I know what he would mean to the Resistance.”

“Hope is like the sun,” she told him. “If you only believe in it when you can see it, you’ll never make it through the night.”

Poe smiled. “That’s poetic, General.”

She shrugged. “I’m a politician. I know the value in words.”

“And symbols?”

Leia nodded approvingly. “And symbols. Though Luke would be more than only a symbol.”

“I don’t doubt that.” Poe gazed into the darkness of night. _Hope is like the sun._ It sounded like something his mother would have said, a belief in the importance of looking to the future.

Never give up; fight for what is most important, even when it’s hard; trust that you will be okay. Poe had learned that from his parents and from Leia both. If Leia believed everything would work out, who was Poe to argue?

“Well,” he said, standing and offering Leia his hand. “We should both get some rest before we literally see the sun.”

“Clever, Dameron,” Leia said with a tiny roll of her eyes as she allowed him to help her to her feet.

They walked together back inside the base.

-

It was difficult to be optimistic inside a cell on a First Order Star Destroyer, his wrists locked in binders, his entire body aching, knowing that he had given Kylo Ren everything he needed to find Luke Skywalker first, knowing he had failed his mission and failed Leia, knowing that now he was no longer of use, he was likely to be executed at any moment. All Poe could see was darkness ahead.

When the stormtrooper came, Poe knew it was over.

And then it wasn’t.

_Hope is like the sun,_ Poe thought, and grinned, embracing this insane, ridiculous escape plan that was as likely to crash and burn as it was to work. _Hope is like the sun,_ he thought as he looked into the dark eyes of a stormtrooper whose conditioning should never have let this be possible.

“We’re gonna do this,” he said.

 


End file.
